A Midsummer Nightcrawler
by LeDiz
Summary: Kitty's gone too far, in this girl's opinion, and it's time someone did something about it.
1. Macbeth

It's not that Kurt didn't like drama. He loved drama. He loved performing. He went out of his way to perform, because he missed entertaining people. But they chose such bad plays.  
  
And the drama coach loved Shakespeare. Kurt didn't GET Shakespeare. Why on Earth would you use such long and drawn out words? Why take five minutes to say what could be said in five seconds?  
  
Besides, he didn't understand half of the words. Goddamn English. He was sure this wasn't English. It must be some other language that the Americans learnt that the rest of the world wasn't told about.  
  
It made him feel really stupid.  
  
He sighed and waved at Jess. She was sitting across the theatre, sighing over the script herself.  
  
Jessica Simmins was a bit of an enigma to the mutants of Bayville. She herself was a mutant, an empath with the power to manipulate emotions. But she had a firm control over her powers and refused to join either the Brotherhood or the Institute on the simple reason that she HAD a home, thankyou very much. A very happy family, she had somewhere to go, she liked both groups, and wasn't willing to start hating one side or the other.  
  
She was one of Kurt's few friends outside the institute, but also good friends with Lance Alvers. She found his name hilarious. If you swapped them around they said 'Alverslance' and his codename was 'Avalanche'. She knew it was a bad pun, but COME ON!  
  
However, she kept trying to make Kurt talk peacefully with Lance. He usually just waved her off or yelled at her for trying to literally MAKE him, but in drama he had little choice. The only other friends he had in drama were Kitty and Rogue, both of which were talking to Lance, Todd and Pietro.  
  
They would never be civil outside this room, and they all knew it, because Scott would blow his top.  
  
"Macbeth?" mouthed Jess, waving the script. "Do these people have lives?"  
  
Kurt smiled and turned to listen to the boy behind him, Greg, the designated director for everything. He was describing to the construction crew his choices for the leading roles. Kurt just happened to be standing nearby.  
  
Sounded like Rogue was the first witch, Kitty was Lady Macduff, Jess was Hecate and Kurt was headed for a murderer. Interesting. What he heard next shocked him. Pietro was getting Macduff! The good guy! Kurt had to hold in his laughter, Lance was going to be the Macduff's son. He had one scene and died in it. Even Kurt understood that scene, Lance had some pretty funny lines and best of all, Kurt got to kill him.  
  
He raised his holographic eyebrows. Todd was Macbeth. Wow. He looked over, surprise etched on his face.  
  
"What?" asked Jess.  
  
"Toad is Macbeth!" he mouthed. Her eyes widened and she gave him a look of misunderstanding. He shrugged and mouthed it again. Having heard all he was interested in, he flipped off the stage and jogged over to them. "I don't believe it."  
  
Jess sat back. "Neither do I."  
  
"Maybe they're going for the physical look, ja?"  
  
She looked up from under her darkly painted makeup. She was a goth, albeit a very cheerful goth, but she liked the look. "Maybe. What am I?"  
  
"Witch. The Hecate woman." He looked at Lance and smirked. "I'm a murderer."  
  
"I think you might be right, the physical thing. Mean, I already do the dark thing, you've got the dark hair to look shady, if you'd stop grinning once in a while, Todd's got the rep and the looks to be a bad guy, and Macbeth does go a little weird."  
  
Kurt nodded his agreement when an argument suddenly broke out behind Jess.  
  
"Come on, Kitty! Calm down! I didn't mean anything-"  
  
"Like hell you didn't! I know what that means!"  
  
"What what means? I didn't say anything!"  
  
"Yes you did. Screw you, Lance. We're through."  
  
"Again." Muttered Kurt, kneeling on the seat in front of Jess.  
  
"But what did I do?"  
  
Kitty stood up and marched past Rogue and Todd. Pietro and Lance looked at her back, confused.  
  
"What'd y'do?" asked Pietro. "I didn't hear anythin' bad."  
  
"I didn't either." Agreed Rogue.  
  
"What happened?" asked Jess, turning in her seat.  
  
"I was talking to Kitty about pets, and I said I thought cats were really nice, and she got all. like that!" Lance looked dumbfounded.  
  
Kurt blinked. "Cats? Maybe she thought you were talking about her."  
  
"I wasn't, but even so."  
  
Jess stared. "What were your actual words?"  
  
Pietro grinned. "She said: 'dogs are really dirty' and Lance said 'but you like it dirty' and she laughed and said 'you know it' and then he said 'I like cats myself, I think they're really nice to look at' and I think she thought he meant pu-"  
  
"Okay, Pietro!" snapped Lance. "Man, does that girl take everything the wrong way?"  
  
"Except what she says." Said Kurt.  
  
"Shuddup Fuzzball. I know the second you get home she'll be down your pants."  
  
Kurt blinked again. She'd probably try it, but he was going out with Tabby tomorrow, so he intended to eat his weight tonight so he could keep up with her.  
  
"Why put up with it if it gets to you so much?" asked Rogue, inspecting her gloves. "You and her are always fighting. Why get back together?"  
  
He shrugged. "Coz."  
  
Kurt rolled his eyes. Everyone knew he was crazy about Kitty. Everyone but him. He'd tried to join the X-men for her, but it hadn't worked out. But even since then, he'd spent as much time as he could with her.  
  
Pietro was suddenly beside Kurt. "Tell me Freakshow, who am I?"  
  
"Quicksilver?"  
  
"Knock it off." He shoved Kurt's shoulder, then blurred to the other side and pushed his other shoulder until Kurt was straight again. He appeared on the other side. "What's our characters?"  
  
"You, I think, are Macduff. Kitty's husband."  
  
Pietro paled even further. He glanced at Lance. "uh."  
  
"What do I care!" shouted Lance, standing up. He too shoved past Rogue and Todd, then headed out of the theatre.  
  
Jess chewed her lip. "She doesn't deserve him. He puts up with anything for her."  
  
"Don't we all." Said Kurt. Pietro laughed and moved to sit with Todd. "I used to, too."  
  
"Still do!" called Rogue. He gave her a look, but went back to Jess, who was now in a thinky mood.  
  
"okay people," said Greg, standing centre stage like he owned it. "We'll put up the castings on Monday after we decide on Lady Macbeth and Duncan. Thanks for coming, we'll see you here then."  
  
########################----------------------------- #########################  
  
Scott agreed to give Jess a lift home. She and Kurt sat in the back with Kitty, listening to Scott and Jean argue.  
  
Apparently, Scott was going on a date with Tarryn, and Jean was going out with Duncan. They didn't like the other's choice.  
  
"Well, you could have asked me before, you know!"  
  
"You wouldn't have said yes!"  
  
"How do you know!"  
  
"I'm developing telepathic powers."  
  
"Like hell. So why didn't you ask me?"  
  
"Tarryn already suggested it before I could think about it. Why do you even care, anyway?"  
  
"I don't! But you're making such a big deal about it!"  
  
"I'm not the one making a big deal! That Duncan guy is one of the leading members of FOH. You think I'm gonna just let my friend get killed?"  
  
"He doesn't even know I'm a mutant!"  
  
"There have been too many close calls, Jean! One day, he's gonna find out and hurt you!"  
  
"And what about Tarryn? When do you think she'll just take those glasses off?"  
  
"That is not gonna happen! Besides, I don't ask her out! She makes me ask her out!"  
  
"How does anyone MAKE you ask them out?"  
  
"How do you say no to someone like that when it's so forward?"  
  
Kurt and Jess exchanged glances over Kitty's head, who was still fuming.  
  
"So, who's this Duncan guy?" asked Jess.  
  
"Jock." Answered Kurt.  
  
"Oh, the blonde one."  
  
"Mm. Football star." Kurt went back to the script, flipping over his scenes. "I get to call Lance an egg."  
  
All three girls stopped what they were doing and stared at him.  
  
"Well, I do."  
  
########################----------------------------- #########################  
  
Note from LeDiz.  
  
Sometimes, my friends, we must admit we suck. And personally, I have decided that the last two chapters of I always do, well, do suck. So I'm going to do something very awful, and write this. Kurt is currently trying to hit me over the back of the head for writing anything so typical, and now he's trying to kill me for succumbing to this. So, you wonderful people out there, you must live with this. If you really want me to continue with I always do, you're gonna have to tell me, coz I'm leaving it in its stupid position until I can figure out how to make it better, and until then, we're going to tort- I mean, toy with a few people's heads... Anon, my friends! 


	2. Very, very, oh so incredibly wrong

Disclaimer: We all know the deal. If I owned it, I would put a lot more Kurt in. I mean, he's one of coolest characters on there, and the one they can easily put the most angst in, and yet he REMAINS a background character most of the time. It's twisted. It's wrong. It's downright mean.  
  
It's generally why so many people write stories about him.  
  
Anyway- on with the tale. No pun intended. Ugh.  
  
Oh, by the bye, I don't actually have anything against Kitty. I love Kitty. I just happen to think she's one of the easiest to hate, because Jean's a bit of an underdog and unfortunately, being the good little Toormina- resultant that I am has made me want to stick up for Underdogs. Sorry all.  
  
And also, Jess does have a point here. A very BIG part. Just not one of parts from A mid-summer Night's dream like the rest of them.  
  
###########---------------############  
  
Jess edged around the corner of the boarding house. All she needed was one little look in Todd's head. That's all. She so didn't want to see Pietro or anything.  
  
Hey, that's like, ew!  
  
"Heya, bad lookin." She jumped and turned slowly. Pietro was leaning against the side of the house, grinning. "Lookin for somethin?"  
  
"Well, technically."  
  
He cocked his head, inviting her to say more.  
  
"Okay, so here's the deal," she began. "Lance and Kitty, we're all getting annoyed here, right? She's a bitch and no one seems to notice. So what I want to do is just... you know, give her some karma."  
  
Pietro grinned evilly. "Oh?"  
  
"And to give karma, I'm gonna need a little look at Todd's brainwaves."  
  
He raised an eyebrow. "What?"  
  
"Well, she really, really hates him. Detests, actually, and um, I figured, you know, she could uh... fallferim."  
  
Pietro laughed. "You're kidding! That is so brilliant!"  
  
"What?"  
  
"It's hilarious. Shoulda been my idea. Wait a second, it was. You been diggin around in here?" He ran up to stand an inch from her face. Her heart started beating faster as he put a and against the wall behind her and leaned in. "Thought you were an empath."  
  
"Uh huh." She croaked. She knew he was in love with someone. Himself. There was no room in his life for another, but hell. Not that she cared, of course.  
  
"Kinda breakin the rules aren't ya?"  
  
"Uh uh."  
  
He was way too close at this point. He smiled. "How's this gonna help the rock tumbler?"  
  
"I- It- it won't. It's not... not about him!" She pushed Pietro away. "So you gonna give me away or what?"  
  
Pietro grinned. "Nuh."  
  
"Good. So you gonna help me?"  
  
"Nope."  
  
"Didn't think so."  
  
###########---------------############  
  
Kurt's tail was flicking absently, a sure sign he was concentrating. He was moving his head to a beat too, which meant he wouldn't have heard her even if she'd been walking on the floor. He tapped his pencil absently on the page, but stopped all movement. Kitty froze.  
  
He took off his earphones, sliding them onto his neck and listened. Kitty held her breath, breathing had given her away before. How he could hear her was beyond anyone, but they had long ago decided Kurt had way too many weird abilities to mention.  
  
He groaned and turned, rolling over to look at her. "Maybe next time, mein Katzchen."  
  
"How did you-"  
  
He shrugged. "Lights." He said, before moving his ear phones up again and rolling back to his book.  
  
Kitty folded her arms in a huff. He was always getting the drop on her, why couldn't she surprise him? Then again, his tail had started flicking again. She lunged-  
  
-And he teleported, leaving her coughing in a cloud of brimstone. She looked up, finding him standing on the ceiling, still writing.  
  
"Do you mind?"  
  
"Not really." He said, then walked away, hair hanging.  
  
"Hey, I like, wanna talk to you!"  
  
He turned and looked at her, surprise etched on every part of his face. "You want to talk?"  
  
"Yeah. I wasn't like, trying to tackle you for your lunch money, was I?"  
  
"No..." He cocked his head at her and she frowned. "But usually you talk to Jean. I'm a huggable"  
  
"You are not!" cried Kitty, outraged. Huggables were much smaller and had brown eyes, usually. "Look, can we talk or not? And like, come down from there."  
  
"No, I think I'm very comfortable up here." He took half a step backwards. "What's up?"  
  
"Fine." Sighed Kitty. "Do you think I was like, outta line with Lance today?"  
  
He considered- truth and have to avoid thrown textbooks, via teleport most likely, using up half his remaining energy, note to self: need to eat, or lie and be faced with a complaining Kitty. "Uhh..."  
  
"He was totally trying to get me into bed- AGAIN! I am like, so sick of it. Do you guys like, live of that?"  
  
Okay, way too much information being divulged here. He did not want to know about Kitty's sex life. Unless he was in it, and the likely hood of that happening, between the Lance/Kitty equation and Kurt's nobility, was somewhere between slim and none.  
  
"You're were completely out of line, Katzchen. He was talking about CATS. Not... what you think."  
  
"You jerk! You're just like-" Kurt's textbook sailed through a burst of smoke.  
  
###########---------------############  
  
He reappeared in front of the fridge, scaring Rogue, who was about to open it, half to death. Ignoring her gasp, he yanked the door open and started eating a stick of meat while piling up 'sandwich' material.  
  
"Hungry. Haven't eaten since lunch." He stated, now looking for bread in the cupboards.  
  
"Oh." Acknowledged Rogue. "Ah, so, I hear you get to kill Lance."  
  
"Mm. I get to kill about three people, actually. Pass me the mayonnaise?"  
  
"So why're you hungry?" asked Rogue, amused. "You ate about three meals at lunch."  
  
"Teleporting. Put this back, would you?"  
  
"Teleporting?"  
  
"Ja. Gotta make this quick, then start on something else before dinner. Gonna see Tabby tomorrow."  
  
Rogue snorted in disgust. No one in the mansion approved of the relationship Tabby and Kurt enjoyed, but there was no way to stop them, either.  
  
"mmph-!" Kurt twirled to look at Rogue and shook his finger at her. "Don't you give me that speech. Jean's been lecturing me for weeks. Like she can talk, what with Duncan and Scott. Mmph-" He took another bite of his concoction and nodded. "I think Jess is right about everyone in this mansion. We're all screwed in the relationship area. Except you and the prof. but who's going to tell you? Throw me an apple, bitte."  
  
Rogue shook her head and walked past the new mutants, who were all chasing Bobby through the kitchen. "Whatever, Kurt. I'll see you in the danger room tonight."  
  
Kurt groaned, he'd forgotten about that. Suddenly two purple boots appeared in front of him as Kitty phased through the ceiling in front of him.  
  
"You know what, Kurt? You were right last week."  
  
Kurt blinked. "Was?"  
  
"I don't need Lance. I need someone else."  
  
"You do?"  
  
"Like, totally. I already know exactly who I want." She seemed over the moon as she touched the floor. "I'll talk to him tomorrow, but you can't tell anyone, okay?"  
  
He stared as she sank through the floor. "Was?" He shook his head, then bit into his sandwich. "Women."  
  
###########---------------############  
  
Every single muscle in his body went rigid. He didn't see this. He couldn't. It was wrong. It was so, so very wrong.  
  
Beside him, Jess had to put her fist in her mouth to keep from laughing.  
  
On the other side, Kurt looked perfectly normal, if a little shocked. But that was the hologram. Personally, he felt the same way Lance did.  
  
This was so, so, very, very wrong.  
  
Kitty had cornered Toad and was trying to force her tongue down his throat.  
  
This was very, very, oh so incredibly wrong.  
  
###########---------------############ ###########---------------############ ###########---------------############  
  
Heh heh... how's that for a WHAT THUH? Sorry, baaaad Aussie line from a show we have. Actually it was around long before the show, but yeah.  
  
Anyway, I finished I always do, who knows if this'll work out? You do! That's right, YOU! Sorry, I'm hyper.  
  
Bye! 


	3. Stay away

I've been going back over my reviews lately, (yes, I do keep them now, I told you, I'm a review vampire. I suck em up and want more) and I feel really bad now, I completely forgot to thank so many people, and I am so sorry. I was kinda wondering how many people read my stuff, coz a lot of people who reviewed the first few chapters left half way through, so I'm wondering if you all got sick of me... I'm pretty sure Kiki, Yma and 'me' have a lock on me or something, but there you go. I just want to thank every single one of you that did review at the start. It would have been a very short story without you.  
  
Hum, I was gonna say something but I forgot it. Oh well... Oh! Guys, if you wanna email me or anything (flame, talk, whatever,) that'd be cool, my email's on profile, just I've got a filter on, so if you want me to actually READ it, you'll have to tell me you aren't a virus in the subject section. Ugh, I am so pathetic...  
  
Anyway- a mid-summer Nightcrawler- part three!  
  
Few disclaimers so no one will kill me- don't own, wish did, want a Kurt plush toy (Kitty might not, but I sure as Hell do- OUCH! He hit me!), it's my birthday on Monday, anyone want to give me a Kurt toy? Don't own soft serve, maccas does. Uh... the 'kurt pose' is technically something I picked up from Internutter, but that was mainly because I read all her stuff when I first found fan fics so she's where I got most of my Kurt-information.  
  
###########-----------##########  
  
Very, very wrong.  
  
"This can't be happening. This can't be happening. Pietro, yeah, maybe, I'd kill him, but maybe. But TODD?"  
  
Lance looked incredibly lost. There were four mutants sitting around the food court table, considering what they'd just witnessed. He was slumped in his seat, head in hand, staring at the table.  
  
Pietro and Jess were staring at each other. They'd known it would work, but this was riduculous. Hilarious, ridiculous, and the best thing they could have hoped for.  
  
Kurt was sitting bolt straight, forcing himself with every muscle in his body not to strike a 'kurt pose'- an odd position that was a cross between a contortionist's act and Kurt's weird comfort zones.  
  
"I thought your power was empathy, Jess. This is mind control." Said Pietro slowly, trying to understand. He glanced at the booth several sections away, where Kitty was feeding Todd soft-serve. He shuddered at the loving expression on her face. "Freaky mind control."  
  
Kurt and Lance stared at her. Kurt's eyes narrowed and his leg twisted around one of the chair's legs.  
  
"Yeah, but I can inject feelings into someone." Explained Jess. "I can't make someone DO anything, but I can make them want something."  
  
A small tremor erupted around them and Pietro glared at Lance. He shrugged and leaned toward Jess. "What have you done?" he hissed.  
  
She looked calmly back at him. "Want a crush on a Blob?" she suggested. He continued to glare, unfazed. She sighed in resignation. "Look, Lance, Kitty's a bitch. Admit it. She treats you like dirt."  
  
Kurt blinked and smiled. "This isn't a twisted form of jealousy, is it Jess?"  
  
She stared at him. "No way! Lance? I gotta fas- bigger fish to fry." She waved him off. "I'm just sick of Kitty always getting what she wants. It's about time she paid for what she takes."  
  
Pietro grinned. "Lookit, Freakshow, all she's done's s'make 'er like ali'l backwater. S'what?"  
  
Kurt shook his head. "That's wrong, Jess, and you know it."  
  
"So what, Kurt!" Jess rolled her eyes. For someone with such a reputation, Kurt was way too careful about powers and responsibilities. He musta seen Spiderman too many times. "Think of this as a favour to Todd if it's got you so worked up."  
  
Even Lance was smiling. "You can just get rid of it, right?"  
  
"Oh yeah, sure. I can give and take as much as I want. I keep offering to take Freddy's love of food, but he refuses. I don't get it." She glanced at the feeling of anger radiating off Kurt. "what."  
  
He shook his head. "This is wrong. You can't toy with people like this."  
  
"Well what else am I meant to do?" She grinned, then turned back to the others.  
  
Kurt sighed and concentrated on his food. Maybe Kitty was a little... hard on the men in her life. Maybe Todd did deserve a girl every now and again. But this wasn't fair on Todd, let alone Kitty.  
  
Not that he could change how they felt.  
  
###########-----------##########  
  
Scott and Jean were stadning in the middle of the entrance hall when Kurt dragged Kitty through the door. It had taken almost twenty minutes to convince her Todd's tongue was long enough to still be there the next day and then Tabitha had shown up and convinced him that maybe Kitty had a point.  
  
Sometimes you just had to stick around.  
  
"You just don't want to believe he's dangerous!"  
  
"You just want me all to yourself!"  
  
"That is completely untrue! Yeah, I care about you Jean, but we're friends. I have to care! If you would just-"  
  
"Oh, don't you dare lie to a telepath, Scott, it doesn't work!" Jean threw her hands up. "Why don't you go annoy Tarryn, mister big shot? She's always trailing after you!"  
  
"Because her BEST FRIEND ignores her!" snapped Scott. "You've been ignoring everyone but Duncan since before the new mutants came! Wake up to yourself, Jean!"  
  
"Oh, screw you, Scott! I have had enough! See you when you've grown up, okay?" She stormed out of the room, brushing past a shocked Bobby.  
  
"What's with that?"  
  
Scott's glare didn't quite have the same effect, given the fact you couldn't see his eyes, but even Bobby quailed slightly. Scott marched up the stairs and Bobby turned to the other two.  
  
"What's with that?"  
  
Kurt sighed. "Kitty? Can you explain to herr Drake the finer points of the birds and bees?" He winked at Bobby. "I'll go see Scott."  
  
BAMF  
  
Bobby blinked and looked, somewhat hesitantly, at Kitty. She wrapped an arm around his shoulder. "Now, with Scott and Jean, you have to understand a few things..."  
  
###########-----------##########  
  
BAMF  
  
"Hey Kurt."  
  
Kurt grinned at the closest thing to a brother he had. Scott was stalking down the hall toward his room, Kurt had appeared in front of him and began walking backwards, which he always found to be a fairly interesting practice on two toes.  
  
"Wanna hurt something?" Offered Kurt. "I hear there's a really good special on Danger room sessions today."  
  
Scott ignored that.  
  
"You're right. Pain's more my style." Kurt considered. "How about fuming pointlessly until Jean storms in and tells you to calm down or shut up?"  
  
Scott pushed past his friend, who almost fell over.  
  
Yes, walking backwards was definitly not his best way to travel. He trotted up behind Scott and looked up into the shades. "Or... we could talk."  
  
Scott slowed at that. He looked at him suspiciously. "Who are you?"  
  
Kurt grinned evilly. "Not my forte when it comes to emotions, but hey, if you need it."  
  
"Is it that obvious?"  
  
"Jawohl!" Laughed Kurt. "You look like you're about to pop a... uh... casket?"  
  
"Gasget." Replied Scott. "It's not that big a deal-"  
  
"Ja it is. Come on, Rogue tells me we're supposed to sit down when we do this."  
  
"Ugh. Maybe not. How about the gym?"  
  
"Much better."  
  
###########-----------##########  
  
Two people sat on the front of the stage on Monday afternoon, waiting for the others to appear. Jess was wringing her hands. She didn't need to be empathetic to know he wasn't happy. He hadn't talked to her for ten minutes other than one word answers.  
  
"Look, I'm just trying to help!"  
  
"Oh, ja, this helps." He muttered. "Kitty REALLY needed fixing more than anyone."  
  
She scoffed and looked at him. "So, what, you're asking me to fix YOU?"  
  
He gave her a look. "Nein. I have better things to do with my time than get mad at you."  
  
"Oh, so this is about big brother Scott."  
  
"You stay away from him."  
  
"Come on, Kurt, don't be mad."  
  
"I'm not- clappe, would you? I just don't think you should be toying with people's feelings."  
  
"I think you've said that."  
  
"And I still mean it!" He snapped. He groaned. "You look, Jess. What people feel is important to them! I would have thought you would know that! People need their screwed up relationships: look at me and Tabby!"  
  
"Exactly. Look at you and Tabby. You're ruining what could be a beautiful relationship by keeping it physical! You won't even think about TALKING about a REAL relationship."  
  
"We're staying friends by keeping it physical. Sometimes I just need someone who likes me for what I am, without a thought. Sometimes Tabby needs to have someone who's game enough to say no so she can convince them!" He folded his arms. "We know one day we'll get a better deal, but until then, it's all fun! We have our arguments for a reason, you know."  
  
"But I wanna play CU-pid!"  
  
"Ja, that's what you're doing." He muttered, watching as Todd came down the aisle, Kitty dragging on his arm.  
  
"You're just jealous. I could get rid of that, if you-"  
  
"NEIN, Jess. Stay away from me."  
  
She sat back in a huff and glared at him as he slouched forward. He would KNOW if she tried to play with him... But there were other choices...  
  
###########-----------########## ###########-----------########## ###########-----------##########  
  
Hmm... where do we think this is going? Heh heh. You are so wrong. Anyway, you know what I want, but it won't do much, probably. =sigh= oh well.  
  
So, I'll see you in the next chapter/story. Yeah, I'm putting up another one. Not really a fan fic though, so yeah. See you guys on the flip side! Bye!  
  
Diz. 


	4. Enjoying yourself?

Yeah, well, screw it. I couldn't make it work. The fluch elf thing. It was gonna be my way of talking back to you guys, but me thinks- uh no, who could be bothered?  
  
I am lazy, but ticked, I wanna know who 'me' is, coz it's two o'clock in the morning and you're online too!!!!  
  
Anywho.  
  
Chapter four, I think...  
  
###########---------------############  
  
He was acting so weird.  
  
Todd was being all... noble, and gentlemanly and... it was scary!!!  
  
Tabitha had her arms around Blue, who was trying in vain to actually get some work done at lunch. She was also staring at the Brotherhood table, where Lance and Pietro were laughing in their corner, and Todd and Kitty were flirting in theirs.  
  
"Hey, Blue, what's wrong with this picture?"  
  
"Someone is on my shoulders for a change?"  
  
"not this picture!" She slapped the top of his head. "That one."  
  
He looked up and groaned. "Ignore it. It's Jess's idea of a joke."  
  
"Weird joke." Said Tabitha. "Care to let me in on it?"  
  
"She can play with people's emotions. She's got Kitty in love with Toad." Kurt ticked off his geometry homework. "Watch out, if you aren't careful she'll try and get us to have an actual relationship."  
  
Tabitha grimaced. "You're kidding."  
  
"Nope. Can you move? You're crushing my collar bones."  
  
"I am not." She snapped. She had her arms crossed on his head, and was leaning against his back heavily. She continued to watch her room mates. "SO why's Lance all happy about it?"  
  
"He's thinks it's funny too."  
  
"Ah. So, what's the latest gossip from the X-freaks?"  
  
He grinned up at her. "You used to be one of us X-freaks, you know."  
  
"Only if you think you're one. We're too whacked for the X-men, Blue. I'm just waiting for you to come join me at the boarding house. My bed is awful big, youknow! I'm oh so lonely!" She slipped her arms around his neck and rocked on her heels. "You know you want it."  
  
"What I want and what I get are different things, Tabs. Gossip, hmm... usual Jean slash Scott slash Duncan stuff, nothing interesting really. Amara's hair is green this week."  
  
"Bobby needs a new hobby."  
  
"Mmm."  
  
"So do Jean and Scott, I mean, BOR-ing!"  
  
"Mmm."  
  
"Are you even listening to me?"  
  
"Mmm."  
  
"You are such a jerk."  
  
"Mmm."  
  
###########---------------############  
  
Jess looked at Jean playfully. So what if Kurt wouldn't talk to her for a year? She was doing good here!  
  
Jean was talking to Duncan about a party he'd had a few weeks ago.  
  
One quick look to scan her emotional patterns, coz she already had Scott's, then she could make a few tweaking adjustments to her feelings and be done with it. All within half an hour.  
  
Ahh, being a saint was so satisfying.  
  
Okay... yep, that rage of emotion had to be Jean, it felt like her, anyway, uh huh. Okay, let's see... okay, that was that.  
  
She walked away, whistling.  
  
###########---------------############  
  
Duncan Matthews blinked. "Huh?"  
  
Jean looked at him. His thoughts had suddenly seemed so insignificant. "Are you okay?"  
  
He stared at her. "Uhh... Jean? Um... can we talk later? There- there's a meeting I'm meant to be at."  
  
Jean nodded. Thank God, she was bored as! "Sure. I should be getting to my locker. Almost class."  
  
They walked backwards a few steps, then turned and sped off in opposite directions.  
  
###########---------------############  
  
"GET AWAY FROM ME!"  
  
Jess looked up. What the?  
  
"STAY!"  
  
Who was yelling in the middle of last period like that?  
  
"BAD BOY! NO! STAY... OKAY."  
  
Suddenly a wave of emotion from the corridor hit her.  
  
Uh oh.  
  
###########---------------############  
  
"KURT! KURT! Kurtkurtkurtkurtkurt!"  
  
The subject of Jess's search was hanging upside down in his room, trying to read Macbeth. He looked down as his door slammed open.  
  
"Kurt! Whereareyou the professorsaid youwerehere WHERE ARE YOU I NEED YOUR HELP!"  
  
Kurt blinked at her. "I'm right here."  
  
"JESUS MATTHEWS! STOP IT!"  
  
He raised an eyebrow to the yell. "What was that, Jess?"  
  
She cringed. "Well, um, I kinda made an accident."  
  
"Made an accident?"  
  
"I can fix it, I just, kinda, um, need help."  
  
Scott's voice continued raging from down stairs. Sounded like he was on the phone to Duncan. That was odd.  
  
"How do you mean... help?"  
  
"How do you isolate Jean's thought patterns?"  
  
Kurt's eyes widened and he almost fell off the roof. "You- oh no. Gott." He burst out laughing. "You tried to get to Jean when she was talking to Duncan Matthews!"  
  
Jess slowly began to fume.  
  
"Oh no! Poor Scott! Ahahahaha! Oh, oh this is too perfect! I don't believe it! Duncan and Scott! Oh man, I- I can't believe this! Ach! I knew you'd screw it up, but this is just too good!"  
  
She tapped her foot impatiently.  
  
He actually did drop from the ceiling, a controlled fall onto his bed, flipping to land on his back. He started gabbling away in German, still laughing.  
  
She was really considering hitting him about now.  
  
He calmed down enough to look at her. "I told you to stay out of it."  
  
"I appreciate the compassion, really."  
  
He shook his head and listened to the one-sided yelling match down stairs, grinning. "You can't fix this."  
  
"I can. I just need to get a really good look at Duncan." She said hautily.  
  
"You can't."  
  
"I can!" She shifted her weight. "I need your help, though. See, we gotta find some one else to concentrate on."  
  
"I do NOT want Duncan Matthews trying to get me in a dark alley."  
  
"No! I mean, he has to spend a long period of time with someone, concentrate on, while I fix him. I was wondering if you knew any girls he could use?"  
  
Kurt smirked at her. "I knew you couldn't."  
  
"Will you stop saying that! I can!"  
  
"And what about Kitty? You going to fix her?"  
  
Jess was bouncing slightly, not wanting to answer that question. "Um...."  
  
He narrowed his eyes. "You can still fix her, right?"  
  
"Um..."  
  
"Right?"  
  
"Well, I've never actually, you know, successfully fixed someone after I'd done something to someone else, but I'm sure I can!"  
  
Kurt's narrowed eyes closed and his jaw worked. "Okay, okay. How do we fix this?"  
  
"I need a big room and lots of time. And a willing volunteer."  
  
###########---------------############  
  
Two people to concentrate on. Well, he wasn't subjecting anyone ELSE to Duncan Matthews. Jean was already falling for the guy, so she was good enough. Getting her into the infirmary would be interesting, but he'd think about that later. As for Duncan...  
  
Kurt grinned. He shouldn't enjoy things like this. It was wrong, on every level it was wrong. Sure, it was to put things right, but there was no excuse for knocking a guy unconscious and kidnapping him.  
  
He turned off his hologram and forced himself to bare his fangs and growl. More animal than human. The old chant started around in his head, but he pushed it away.  
  
He looked out the alleyway. The basketball court was empty apart from Duncan, leaning against a pole and waiting for his phone to come back in the service area.  
  
Mobile phones were useless things, thought Kurt absently. He crouched onto all fours and the chant started louder. Again he pushed it away and started toward the jock.  
  
Closing off all thoughts, Kurt raised his growl to an audible level and watched from the shadows as Duncan's head shot up. Jean had told him once that Duncan hated animals- his little brother had been attacked by a wild animal once. Kurt didn't care much, really, at the moment. He was only half- there, and the part currently in control just enjoyed scaring people.  
  
The growl sharpened into a sort of cry, then lowered into the steady growl. The animal slipped behind Duncan's terrified form and waited for him to notice him.  
  
Duncan slowly turned toward the noise, behind him. When he had turned completely around, he blinked. Nothing. Even the sound was gone.  
  
"Hey Dunc." Hissed a voice behind him. Duncan spun on the spot and found himself staring into gleaming yellow eyes. He screamed, but didn't have the chance to run. The animal was holding the basketball hoop with his hand, his legs twisted in the air and one misshapen foot connected with Duncan's temple.  
  
Duncan slumped to the ground and Kurt slowly came back to himself, grinning.  
  
He shouldn't have enjoyed that.  
  
###########---------------############ ###########---------------############ ###########---------------############  
  
I love making people evil. I'm gonna have to make an evil-kurt story one day.  
  
See you all around! 


	5. I've been thinking

To explain the mentions from last chapter, I got a review from me when I was writing the fourth chapter; at least I think I did. But then again, that was also the time I realised what Dyonne was doing on my account. I actually read what she was 'proof reading'. I wasn't happy, so I might've just lost it for a temporary few hours...  
  
God she's a cow.  
  
Anywho, to satisfy the almighty Yma- a Kitty/Todd story... This is set before the last chapter, coz I finally figured out what I wanted everyone to be thinking in that scene.  
  
I own nothing, not even the CD I'm listening to at the moment. I should really give this back...  
  
######---------#######  
  
Kitty was sitting in her Science class, day dreaming.  
  
On Friday night, she had yelled at Lance. Broken up with Lance. He'd been so pathetic, so immature. So guy-like! And then Kurt had told her SHE was out of line. But then, that hadn't mattered anymore. She'd thought about the rest of her drama class.  
  
According to Rogue, she was going to be playing Lady Macduff. Shame, she'd really wanted Lady Macbeth. Who could believe that TOAD got the part of Macbeth? It was so... wrong. Like playing with the natural order of things.  
  
But then again, maybe he could act. She'd never actually seen him try. And he did deserve it. He never got any slack. Come to think of it, people were always hard on Toad. Even when he hadn't done anything, it was Toad that usually got the blame. The X-men beat him up almost as much as the Brotherhood did Kurt. Okay, well, not really, but he was their first target in battles.  
  
Poor Toad.  
  
Poor Todd.  
  
You know, if he was given a fresh pair of clothes, and half a chance, Todd could be really good looking. He had a nice voice, really, when he wasn't screaming. And he only ever screamed because Kurt scared him. Kurt scared everyone.  
  
Poor Todd.  
  
Nice Todd.  
  
She smiled and caught herself fanticising about his thin, lanky frame. But she didn't care. She had already justified it all to herself. And everyone knew she didn't mind the 'bad boys'.  
  
Last week Kitty had gotten into a big argument with Kurt, after she called him fluffy insect. It had started as a joking/flirting game. But it had slowly escalated into a screaming (Courtesy Kitty) and bilingual (Kurt) yelling match, bringing in every single fault they could find with each other.  
  
Somewhere in the middle, Kitty had yelled "You're always so pathetic, you know I'm going out with Lance and you still follow me around like a dog!"  
  
"Don't you call me an animal!" He'd yelled back. "I just happen to know that Lance isn't good for you! He's tried to KILL you, and you just follow HIM around like the ditzy valley anorexic that you are! When are you going to realise that you DON'T need him to feel good about yourself?!"  
  
He'd been right, about the last bit, anyway. The rest she would have to kill him for, eventually. She didn't need Lance.  
  
She needed Todd Tolenski.  
  
So she'd agreed to go with Kurt to the mall the next day. He was meeting Tabitha Smith, but after lunch. He'd offered to buy her a new shirt to make up for the one she'd ripped when she'd been chasing him around the mansion.  
  
She had been going to go with Lance, anyway, which meant the rest of the Brotherhood would probably be around somewhere.  
  
They'd met Jess, Freddy and Pietro in the women's clothing. Kurt had to force himself not to laugh at the fact Pietro was holding a dress up against himself. Turns out Jess was teaching the two boys what girls like to get as presents. (It was Tabitha's birthday next week and she'd ordered them to remember.)  
  
"Where're Todd and Lance?" asked Kitty.  
  
Jess grinned and jerked a thumb over her shoulder. "Playing in the makeup department."  
  
At that point Lance and Todd slipped around the corner, Lance had several red lines over his hand and wrist and Todd smelled oddly of perfume.  
  
"What happened?"  
  
Todd grimaced. "We were just looking, yo? And this whacko chick comes up and starts drawing all over Lance, and then this other broad starts spraying me."  
  
"He smells a lot better than normal." Said Freddy, smiling.  
  
"Yo, shut up!" Todd crossed his arms. "This chicks just kept going on about Valentines and girlfriends and- hey, what's with the Freakshow?"  
  
Kitty smiled. The way he said that- Freakshow, it was funny. She couldn't stop herself. In three strides she crossed the space between them, grabbed Todd by the collar and yanked him into the deepest kiss she could.  
  
######---------#######  
  
Todd couldn't believe his luck. He was sitting in the theatre next to the second hottest chick at the institute, possibly the entire school, and she kept trying to hold his hand.  
  
It had all started on Saturday. For some reason he didn't know, Pietro, Freddy and that chick Jessica were hanging around she ghost and the freakshow. He'd started complaining about the department store clerks and she'd practically run at his lips.  
  
It was amazing. He hadn't kissed a girl since his powers had developed, and this was so much better! He just stood there, pulled up against her, letting her kiss him. Lance was gonna kill him, but it was worth it.  
  
Finally he put his own arms around her and kissed back, thanking whatever deity was up there that he'd actually BRUSHED his teeth today.  
  
It wasn't that Todd was unhygienic. Last year he'd been a pretty clean guy, for a sixteen-year old. Yeah, he's room was a mess, and he didn't do too much with his hair, just let it fall where it would. But he showered twice a day, brushed his teeth, eaten tic tacs like life preservers... Then he'd started to notice his skin going kinda funky. Tougher, more leathery. His tongue was doing something weird too, like his toothpaste was staining it blue or something, not to mention it was getting longer! His girlfriend dumped him because he wouldn't kiss her anymore. Hell, he didn't want to TOUCH her anymore. What if she freaked out? He was the one it was happening to, he was plenty freaked! Then one day after his shower, he realised he smelt about twice as bad as he usually did after a hard gym lesson. He'd stopped taking showers in the morning. Then he stopped swimming. Then pretty much coming into contact with water altogether. Not even HE could live with that stench. Then he stopped using toothpaste, it was doing REALLY weird stuff to his tongue.  
  
Then he'd seen that video in science about mutants. Maybe... maybe he was a mutant. He tried to hide everything from his parents. His pop was already wigged enough. His Mum would never have dealt with it.  
  
But he was proud of it, in a way. He was really flexible, and his tongue could do all these cool things. Then he learned how easy it was to jump really high and balance on thin things. Okay, so the disgusting bit was the new hygiene he had to do, and the fact that insects suddenly looked really tasty, hell they WERE really tasty. But he could deal with that. Everything's got its downsides.  
  
But the worst bit was human reaction. No one wanted a Toad as a friend.  
  
That was what he was, a human toad.  
  
And here, this beautiful girl, she wasn't a chick, she was too amazing to be a chick, and she seemed to really want him. This wasn't some sick joke, and even if it was, he was getting as much out of it as anyone else.  
  
When they drew apart, they looked at each other and smiled.  
  
The way she looked... this couldn't be a joke. She wanted it as much as he did.  
  
He cleared his throat. "Uh... wanna go for a drink? I don't got much money, but-"  
  
"I'll pay if you're there," said Kitty, entwining her fingers in his. "Come on."  
  
They'd left five mutants staring after them, shocked, appalled, scared and in one case, so dumbfounded he couldn't even figure out that he was holding Jess's low hanging collar for support.  
  
"I need a drink." Said Pietro.  
  
"I need food." Said Kurt.  
  
"I need you to let go of me, Lance."  
  
######---------#######  
  
Kurt was trying to coax Kitty away from Todd. "Come on, Katzchen, you can dream about him-"  
  
"Hey Blue!" Tabitha wrapped her arms around his waist and put her face in his neck. He was starting to get her winter coat, and his neck was a little more fuzzy than usual. "mm, you feel so nice. Wanna go sit in a movie?"  
  
Kurt looked from Kitty to Tabitha and back again. "I'm going to regret this."  
  
"No you aren't." Tabitha pulled him away.  
  
She was right about one thing.  
  
Kitty smiled at Todd, her chin propped up by her hand. "I'm really sorry about everything. I never realised what a great guy you could be."  
  
He blinked. "What?"  
  
"I dunno. I was thinking last night, you put up with so much crap from everyone. It's like so totally courageous of you." She looked down at her drink. "And like, the more I thought about it, the more I realised how much I like you."  
  
He couldn't believe his ears. "Really?"  
  
"Oh, yeah. Lance was just, you know, there, I guess. I never really looked past the looks. He was kinda funny, but you, you're like, so amazing. I shoulda talked to you first, so um, what do you think?"  
  
"About what?"  
  
"About us... going to like, a movie or something?"  
  
Todd stared at her. "Gah- gah- muh- you- uh, I mean," he shook his head, hair flying everywhere. "you'd really want to? I mean, that would be great, uh, Kitty. Yea- uh, yes, I would... love, to take you to a movie."  
  
She blushed and smiled. "Thankyou."  
  
"Anytime..."  
  
######---------#######  
  
Freddy was wandering around the food court, thinking. He thought a lot more than people knew. Okay, so he didn't know a whole heap ACADEMICALLY but he knew stuff about people. Stuff you didn't learn in school.  
  
This Jess girl's power had something to do with emotions, and she had offered to get rid of his love of food more than once. He'd refused because he liked being the Blob. As a mutant, his power was pretty simple. Super human strength, a limited amount of indestructive capabilities. But a lot of the unmovable part of his powers, that came from his weight. If he lost it, he was over seven feet, he'd look weirdly tall if he lost weight. He liked his code name, he liked being immovable. He liked to eat.  
  
But Jess didn't understand that. She knew emotions, not reasoning, but she didn't know them very well. She didn't realise Kitty and Lance would work stuff out if they were meant to. That was the laws of the universe. Stuff happens coz it's meant to. Jess probably thought it was a big joke, making Shadowcat fall for Todd.  
  
He looked over at the lanky boy. He was staring, absorbed, as Kitty told him a story. He was looking at her face, too. Oh no, he was falling for her. This'd hurt.  
  
Freddy bit into his hamburger. Not that he uh, liked Todd or anything, but, you know, he didn't want to see him get hurt. And nothing hurt like this.  
  
He sighed. Someone was gonna have to talk to him. And as Pietro and Lance seemed to be getting in on the joke, it looked like it would be him.  
  
######---------#######  
  
But by Monday, he hadn't quite got around to it. And then, something happened that was a lot more interesting.  
  
Freddy was waddling down the hall toward Principal Kelly's office. He'd punched about three people in one shot in Geography, that spelt a lot more detention. At this rate, he'd be doing detention after he left school.  
  
Summers was walking ahead of him, holding a detention slip too. That was weird, Summers was usually a teacher's pet. But then that jock, Duncan Matthews, turned the corner after him, holding yet another slip.  
  
"Hey, Scott, wait up."  
  
"What do you want, Matthews?"  
  
"Hey, calm down, I just want to talk. Sorry about back there, but I really needed to talk to you alone."  
  
"Yeah, right." Snapped Summers. He glared at Matthews, who was smiling in the weirdest way. Come to think of it, thought Freddy, it kinda looked like the smile Todd had been wearing since Saturday. Nah.  
  
Matthews grabbed Summers' arm and stopped him. "I've been doing a lot of thinking. At lunch, I realised what a jerk I've been. I wanted to apologise, Scott."  
  
"Uh huh." Scott stared at him. That look was starting to scare him. It reminded him of Kurt the first day Kitty had arrived at the institute. Before she saw him, of course. He had an idea Duncan was thinking about Jean a little too fondly. "But that doesn't stop me getting detention."  
  
"Scott, detention doesn't matter, we'll do it together. That's important right?"  
  
Now he was really scared.  
  
"Anyway, I was hoping we could be friends. Real good friends."  
  
Scott froze. He'd heard this speech before. Back at the orphanage, the day he left for the institute, Roy Thomas had said something along these lines, right before... oh, God, you've got to be kidding!  
  
"Matthews, let go of my arm."  
  
"But Scott, I've gotta tell you this. I've been thinking a lot since lunch. About myself. About Jean. About you. I've been thinking a lot about you." Matthews moved closer. "I'd never thought about it before, but I think this is the way I'm meant to be. The way we're meant to be."  
  
Scott stepped back, not even noticing Fred Dukes behind him. "Matthews, if you say a single word right now, I am gonna hit you so hard..."  
  
"No you won't. You know you don't want to. Give in to it, Scott. We can't keep fighting this temptation." Matthews was smiling, the smile that had dropped hundreds of girls to their knees before.  
  
But Scott was just getting angry. "Dammit, Matthews! Get OFF me."  
  
"But Scott-"  
  
Scott drew back his fist and punched Matthews as hard as he could in the stomach. Naturally, he let go of Scott's arm and he stepped back several paces. "STAY AWAY FROM ME!"  
  
Matthews looked up, pleading. "Please Scott, I've never felt like-"  
  
"STAY! BAD BOY!" Scott had reverted to his crueler personality. Treating people like animals had always turned them away.  
  
Matthews tried to crawl forward, but Scott just drew back his fist. "NO! STAY!" the jock stopped at the sight of Fred Dukes looming up behind Scott, confused. "OKAY. Okay."  
  
Scott edged around Duncan and practically ran to the principal's office. He did not want to look at Jean, but the faster he got home, the better.  
  
######---------#######  
  
Kurt was called to the office. When he arrived he found Scott sitting, looking a little traumatised. Kurt checked his watch, it was only a half- hour until school ended.  
  
"What's up?"  
  
"I really need to go home, Kurt." Murmured Scott. "Duncan Matthews... no, but um, I think I might crash my car if I drive. Interested?"  
  
Kurt grinned. Hey, any reason to drive THAT baby. "Sure thing." He glanced at the secretary, who shrugged.  
  
"It's been cleared with Principal Kelly and we have notified your guardians. Mr. Summers has been suspended for two days for fighting in class, as for you..." She shrugged again. "It's only half an hour."  
  
######---------#######  
  
Tarryn stood beside Scott in the lounge room, drinking in the sight of the wide screen television. He'd invited her over rather suddenly, but she didn't mind. She really liked Scott. Any attention from him was more than welcomed.  
  
The new girl, Jess, was running past. "I didn't know she lived with you."  
  
"She doesn't. She's Kurt's friend." Scott draped his arm around Tarryn's shoulder. "So, what movie should we start with?"  
  
In the entrance hall, Kurt let Duncan drop to the ground, panting. "This better work. Teleporting this hunk of meat three miles was no picnic, I tell you. Double porting, I need food."  
  
He started toward the kitchen, but Jess grabbed his arm. "How am I meant to get him to the med room?"  
  
Kurt rolled his eyes. "All you needed me for was to be a messenger. Do I really have to keep playing?"  
  
"Messengers deliver. Move it!"  
  
Resignedly, Kurt put a foot on Duncan's back. "You owe me about three meals at Gut Bomb."  
  
BAMF  
  
Tarryn looked around. "What was that?"  
  
"Um..." Scott looked up. "I didn't hear anything."  
  
"Hey, do you mind if I get a drink?"  
  
Scott considered. Kurt was on one of his inducer binges, he practically slept with that thing on at these times, Hank was out doing some Mentor-X- men assignment with Ororo (he had the idea this meant trying to find food that would fill Kurt in one sitting. It had become something of a mission lately), the new mutants were on power-parole, except Jamie, who couldn't help it, and he was still locked in his room, courtesy of the new mutants. Nothing could happen to make her suspect anything was up with the mansion. "No, go ahead. Need a hand?"  
  
"No, I'm okay. Uh, I just have to remember which door now."  
  
Scott smiled and waved. Tarryn was definitely an independent. He had quickly learned that pushing to be a hero with her only got questions about his shades. If she said she was okay, it meant 'I don't want help'.  
  
He should have known better than to let her pick which door she wanted to try. 


	6. A tale of two Med rooms

Kurt stopped in med room one and lifted his leg from Duncan's back. Oh, herr McCoy's glorious calorie counter! Kurt dived over the bench and opened the cupboard. Hank kept a high stock of food in here for the times when Kurt was sent here for over-porting. Pure calories. Pure wonder! Pure magic! Pure FOOD!  
  
He froze when he heard someone enter the room. Peeking over the bench he came face to face with Jean. "Um... hello?"  
  
"Do I have to ask or are you going to tell me?"  
  
He grinned. "About what in particular?"  
  
"Why Duncan Matthews is lying unconscious on the floor and you're pigging out in the med rooms, not the kitchen?"  
  
"Convenience." He answered. "As for Duncan, I just enjoy the sight of him in pain."  
  
She rolled her eyes. "In five seconds, I'm finding out the hard way."  
  
He stood up angrily. "Don't you dare." He leaned over the bench, cold meat container still in hand. "Go in and I WILL bite."  
  
"And I'll hit back." She replied calmly. "Now tell me."  
  
"I'm fixing something. I don't know if Scott told you, but Jess made a little mistake today. We're fixing it."  
  
Her brow furrowed. "What?"  
  
He sighed and sat on the bench, container in his lap, fork in hand. He started to talk around his food. "You know Jessica Simmins, ja? The girl that wouldn't join the Brotherhood or us? You know her power?"  
  
"Like telepathy, right? She can read emotion."  
  
"And change it. She's been... testing it, I guess you could say. Trying to be 'helpful' she wanted to make you stop liking Duncan and like Scott. Don't get mad until I explain the rest. But you were talking to Duncan at the time, and so he stopped liking you and started liking Scott instead. Matter of fact, he's crazy about him."  
  
Jean pinched the bridge of her nose. "Oh no..."  
  
"So to fix it, you need to hang around with Duncan while she works to get rid of Duncan's feelings." Kurt swallowed the last mouthful. Wow, it had gone fast. "I think it's hard to change things BACK."  
  
Jean sighed. "Okay. How long do you want me in here?"  
  
"She said an hour, but I'd give it two." He stood up. "Meanwhile, I'm going to the kitchen. I don't want to completely drain herr McCoy's supplies."  
  
"What did you do to Duncan?"  
  
Kurt stopped, not wanting to tell her. He felt awful. He'd ENJOYED what he did. He'd enjoyed scaring Duncan. That was wrong. "I um... I had to hit him. I was going to put you guys in med room three, but hey, whatever, right?"  
  
He teleported before she could continue the conversation. Jean turned to her boyfriend. "This explains why you blew me off after school."  
  
########---------#########  
  
Scott found Tarryn in the med rooms, confused. "What are you doing down here?"  
  
"I thought you said the kitchen was downstairs."  
  
"I meant it wasn't on the second floor." He smiled at her. He'd invited her around to ensure he was still attractive to women, and had been very readily answered. He appreciated that. "These are the infirmary."  
  
She sat down on one of the beds. "Why do you have these?"  
  
He shrugged and sat beside her. "A couple of people here are scared of hospitals. Don't trust people they don't know, you know?"  
  
"Oh, like that Rogue girl?"  
  
"Yeah, kind of."  
  
"That's nice of the professor, catering to your every whim." Grinned Tarryn.  
  
Scott laughed. "It can be a bit of a necessity at times. Some of the kids that go to school here as well as live here... one practically multiplies when he isn't treated right."  
  
"What?"  
  
"If people touch him wrong, he seems to be everywhere and panics."  
  
"Oh."  
  
They settled in, more comfortable down here now that they were talking. They set about becoming actual friends, not flirting buddies.  
  
########---------#########  
  
Jess heard two voices in the room and smiled. One was female, the other male, she could tell. Jean must have come down. She locked the door and concentrated. She'd been concentrating on male and female differences all afternoon. She wasn't making the same mistake again. She wasn't that dumb.  
  
The guy was very familiar, that must be Duncan. She nodded, it was no mistake. She quickly fell into the river.  
  
Whoa!  
  
Jess kicked. This guy was a whirlpool! So confusing! There was one feeling, regret, a whole heap of regret. She rolled her eyes and pulled it away. No one needed that. She stored it in her emotional 'backup' and searched for the strongest feeling of attraction she could find.  
  
It didn't take long, it had been tied to the regret by a few threads. She pulled it, too, but put it carefully in her backup. She was proud of that emotion, she wasn't getting rid of it that quick.  
  
She pulled out, and concentrated on the female feelings. She memorised her 'pattern' and went back to the male. She pushed attraction into him with the pattern.  
  
Perfection.  
  
All they had to do was keep concentrating on each other for an hour, let the feeling sink in.  
  
She opened her eyes. She was okay, she'd fixed it. Now all she had to do was remember what she'd done just then that was so different to what she hadn't been able to do to her parents. Not that her parents were a problem, they were happy. She was happy. No problems.  
  
But Kurt's words kept swimming around her mind. "People need their screwed up relationships!"  
  
Huh.  
  
She walked off the institute's grounds in deep thought.  
  
########---------######### ########---------######### ########---------#########  
  
Sorry this one's short, I did have a longer version, but it sounded weird. Like I just wrote fifty thousand sentences and pieced them together, you know?  
  
No? Oh well.  
  
Better luck next time! 


	7. Or what you will

Kitty hung up the phone and looked up. Kurt quickly looked back down at his book, but she noticed. "What?"  
  
He shook his head and continued reading.  
  
"Is this about me and Todd?"  
  
He shrugged. "In a way."  
  
"Look, it's okay. For once I made the first move," she smiled at him. "Todd's really sweet. A real gentleman."  
  
"Since when have you liked gentlemen..." he muttered. "it's nothing, Katzchen."  
  
"Come on, Kurt. Yell at me and get it over with."  
  
"Kitty..." He set his book aside and sucked his lip. He'd recently started trying NOT to bite his lips. "Before last Saturday, how did you feel about Toad? I mean, Todd?"  
  
She shook her head. "It doesn't matter. I was mixed up. I've never given him a chance before." She stood up, making him crane his neck to look at her. "But now I know him. And I love him. It doesn't matter what happened before. I know him now. I can see past appearances and his act."  
  
Kurt sighed as she left the room. "Ja. Sure you do."  
  
Rogue glanced at him from across the room. He noticed and grinned. "Mein Rogue?"  
  
She looked back at her homework.  
  
His smile faded and he picked up his script.  
  
"Must be real good for your self esteem here."  
  
He blinked. Rogue didn't LOOK like she'd spoken. She was still concentrating on her notebook. But while he looked at her, she continued speaking to her homework. "Lance, you could understand. But Toad?"  
  
He didn't answer her.  
  
"'Course, we know it's not real... still. Maybe your little empath coulda been a little empathetic."  
  
Kurt let his hair cover his face, not wanting to look at her.  
  
"SCOTT! OH, OH! SCOTT!"  
  
They both looked up at once. "What the?"  
  
"Didn't sound like Jean," murmured Kurt. He pushed himself up from the couch and trotted to the door. "But it was coming from downstairs..."  
  
"Didn't sound like something I really wanna listen to." Replied Rogue. She followed Kurt down the stairs anyway. They walked down the hall, listening to the moans. They found Duncan Matthews' head poking into the hall, looking around. Behind him, Jean was covering her mouth in horror.  
  
"You do hear that right? Jean says she can't hear anything."  
  
Kurt and Rogue glanced at each other and agreed silently. "Hear what?" asked Rogue.  
  
Duncan shook his head. "I could swear I- I do! Can't you hear it? Some bitch has my man!"  
  
She had to turn away and cough to keep from laughing. Kurt nudged her and she coughed harder. Duncan was cracking his knuckles, but Kurt just put his hands on Duncan's shoulder. "I don't hear anything, Duncan. Maybe you should go lie down." Ohnoohno it didn't work! "Or maybe you should go home. What are you doing here anyway?"  
  
"Good idea, here, Duncan," Jean stood up, suddenly business like. "I'll take you home!"  
  
"But... Scott! My- my guy!"  
  
"It's okay, Duncan, he'll call you tomorrow. Or even better, he'll see you tomorrow!"  
  
"Oh yeah." Duncan suddenly looked smug. "I'll go home, I have to get ready. He'll never be able to re-"  
  
"okay! See you around, Duncan!" said Kurt.  
  
Jean looked at him. '_It didn't work!_'  
  
'_Obviously!_' thought snapped Kurt. '_She screwed it up again! Just take Jock home. I'll call Jess and see what happened. She must have gotten Scott!_'  
  
He could tell Jean was feeling a little lost at that statement, but she continued leading Duncan away. '_Good idea. Tell Rogue to try and separate those two. If Logan comes home and smells anything like that, he'll flip! I'll be home as soon as I can._'  
  
'_Thanks for understanding, Jean._'  
  
'_I never said I forgave you._'  
  
'_How is this my fault?_'  
  
'_You could have stopped her._'  
  
'_Yeah, sure._' He turned to Rogue. "You wanna go play with them? I have to make a phone call."  
  
She rolled her eyes. "Why can't you?"  
  
"You can always grab a hold of them if they don't want to separate."  
  
At that point, Scott started making noises too.  
  
"Yeah, I want those people in my head right now!"  
  
Kurt grinned and teleported, leaving Rogue to fend for herself. "This'll be fun."  
  
#########----------##########  
  
Jess ran into the kitchen and picked up the phone. "Hello?"  
  
"Jess! You're home!"  
  
"Only just, who is this?"  
  
"How many Romani do you know?"  
  
"Romani?"  
  
"It's KURT!"  
  
"I know, what's a Romani? Is that German for mutant?"  
  
"ACH! Leave it, Jess! You stuffed it!"  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"WHAT DID YOU DO TO THEM?!"  
  
"Whoa! Kurt, chill! What are you talking about?"  
  
As she listened, Jess paled. What were Tarryn and Scott doing in med room three? It's where she and Kurt agreed to leave Jean and Duncan. "Oh no... I knew it went way too well."  
  
"WAS?!"  
  
Suddenly a very angry German was yelling into the phone at her in his native language, and it was terrifying. She held it away from her ear until the words softened back into English.  
  
"I can't believe you! I can't believe this! Now we have THREE, count them, THREE screwed couples, all of which aren't meant to be, and all you can say is 'I knew it went too well'?" He raised his voice again. "VERDAMNT DICH! Don't you get it! Do you understand what you're doing? Kitty was bad, Duncan was wrong, but this is going beyond a joke! I'm telling you Jess, if you don't fix them within the next twenty-four hours, I'm sending Rogue over there to completely drain you, telling Jean your address and explaining to Kitty WHY SHE'S IN LOVE WITH A FUCKING TOAD!"  
  
Jess winced. She knew Kurt never swore if he could help it. He was slightly pissed. "But I can't fix it! I don't know how! I don't know why it didn't work! You told me they were in room three, two people were in room three, and I set them up!"  
  
"I said the med rooms! I never said a particular med room! You've been in Jean and Duncan's heads, and you confuse them with Tarryn and SCOTT? For Gott's sake, Jess! At least TRY to be convincing!"  
  
Jess was crying now. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean it! I'm gonna try! I'll fix it!"  
  
"That's what you said this afternoon! You have to do it before I'll believe you!"  
  
"I'll make it work!"  
  
His reply was German and unprintable. She listened to him breathe for a few minutes. "Does this thing of yours wear off?"  
  
She shook her head, then realised she was on the phone. "No. The last pair I did this to are still in love. Very deep love."  
  
"Have you ever explained it to them?"  
  
"Uh... I've never actually tried to."  
  
Silence. Then: "What do you think would happen if you managed to convince them this was all the fault of a mutation?"  
  
Jess was quiet. "Um... I don't think it would take it away, but uh... it might calm them down a little." She considered. "Matter of fact, it might be a little easier to get rid of if they knew it wasn't real."  
  
"Jess, who did you do this to first?"  
  
She lowered her eyes. "Kurt..."  
  
"Please Jess. This is important to me. Was it... was it your parents?"  
  
"Uh huh."  
  
"Okay. Can I ask-"  
  
"No. I'm not doing that. They were happy, they ARE happy. I'm not changing that."  
  
"Can't you-"  
  
"No, I won't do that." She was adamant. "And if you ask me to, Kitty will never make her own decisions again."  
  
"Fine." Snapped Kurt. "I'll talk to you at school tomorrow. SOMEONE has to fix this."  
  
He hung up on her and she listened to the steady beep for a few moments. When she hung it up, she stared into space. No, she shook her head. No. My family deserves this. We are happy. No one needs hate.  
  
"People need their screwed up relationships."  
  
Shut up. I'm not fixing even gonna try to fix you. I don't care what he says. I don't care.  
  
#########----------##########  
  
Kurt closed his eyes, head in hands. It had been such a long day.  
  
He hadn't managed to talk to either Kitty nor Scott all night, they'd been fantasising or chatting to themselves about how wonderful their dates were. Then he'd been caught fighting with Jess and Lance had tried to beat him up, and then three hours later, succeeded. He was in such incredible pain, and Scott wouldn't talk to Kurt about anything other than Lance.  
  
Big brothers were so irritating.  
  
He touched his cheek and winced. Yes, it was definitely a good thing he had an inducer. Most people were never fooled, but the people that mattered usually were. Like herr McCoy. And herr McCoy was downstairs somewhere. Kitty wandered into the room and sat across from him.  
  
"Hi."  
  
"Tag." He felt his lip. Dammit, it was bleeding again.  
  
"Like, you wanted to talk to me? Jean said I totally needed to listen to you, but is this about Todd? I like, don't care what you think, okay?"  
  
"Katzchen, this is somewhat important." He said resignedly. "I need you to believe me. You need to believe me."  
  
She cocked an eyebrow but remained silent.  
  
Kurt went through his explanation of Jess, and what had happened to Kitty, Duncan and finally Scott. Kitty's face became all the less believing as he spoke, but never interrupted.  
  
"So, you see, you don't really even like Toad, it's just Jess's power."  
  
"Uh huh."  
  
"Katzchen, think about it. Before Friday night, did you even think Toad was reasonable?"  
  
"That's different! I like, just didn't give him a chance!"  
  
"So why did you give him a chance? Did you just suddenly start thinking about reasons for all his problems? Think, Katzchen. Think about him. He's a jerk to us. He's part of the Brotherhood. He LIVES to steal Scott's shades. He doesn't BATHE!" Kurt shuddered at the thought. "He's tried to kill you even more times than Lance."  
  
"He- he was just under the other's influence. Besides, Lance did it too and we were all good."  
  
"Listen to yourself! You were- you were in- you were in lah- lie- lah-hah- ve with- with HIM on Friday afternoon!"  
  
"Then he made that sickening joke and I realised-"  
  
"THEN JESS CHANGED YOUR MIND!"  
  
"She DID NOT!"  
  
"Why won't you listen?"  
  
"I am listening! You're just jealous!"  
  
"So what? It's still true!"  
  
"AH HAH! You just admitted it!"  
  
"So I'm jealous! So what! I've been jealous for three months!" He yelled, not caring anymore. He jumped to his feet. "I've never talked about this before! Why would I make up something so ridiculous?"  
  
"You read way too much Macbeth!"  
  
"WHAT!"  
  
"Just leave it alone, Kurt! You are so full of it that you'd go to this! I don't even want to look at you right now!" She marched towards the door.  
  
He laughed. "Oh, like you ever do!"  
  
She stopped at the door and glared back at him. "That was low."  
  
"So are you." He replied, even his holographic image looked slightly scary in his anger. "You're so stuck up on pretending to be 'normal' that you reject any notion that makes you any less 'normal'. You won't even accept the THOUGHT that you might be wrong in this case."  
  
"It's stupid! I love Toad!"  
  
"Then why don't you think of him that way? Why have you never thought of him like that before? And now, why is he Toad?"  
  
Kitty froze, considering. She looked up at Kurt semi-calmly. "He's not Toad. He's... he's... Toad. I don't believe it..."  
  
Kurt sighed and leaned on the table. He opened his arms for her.  
  
#########----------########## #########----------########## #########----------##########  
  
I should have left you hanging for a few days. I so should have. But I'm a relatively nice person. Honest. [insert evil laugh] Okay, so I'll come back to you tomorrow, or the next day, coz I'm lazy. Hey, does any one know the German word for hello? Just out of interest. I'll see you all on the flip side. LeDiz 


	8. Emotions are like Grass

Humm... hee hee. I've been reading 'Plot, what plot' again. Oooh, dear... bad choice if you're trying to be somewhat serious, so if I start to ramble in this chapter, I am so sorry. Hee hee, no I'm not, but you know!  
  
Hey, leave me alone, it's your faults anyway coz um... coz. So there.  
  
I make such brilliant arguments, don't I?  
  
##########------------#########  
  
Kurt gently rocked Kitty, but over the top of her head you could see an exasperated elf that really didn't have time for what he was doing.  
  
He realised he'd meant every word, and that was a little funny.  
  
He had no idea why, but it was.  
  
"What am I going to do? I love To- Todd, but it's not real! Kurt! Tell me what to do!"  
  
He looked down in surprise. "What?"  
  
"Come on, you've been there from the start... how do I get out of this?"  
  
Kurt blinked. "Uhhh..."  
  
##########------------#########  
  
Pietro was getting REEEEEE-eally ticked now. Todd was still jumping off the walls in joy, Lance had started moaning about Kitty again, and Tabby was moping about something.  
  
At this point, Freddy was the coolest person in the house aside from himself. But he didn't count, because he wanted something to do.  
  
"What's up with you?" he demanded suddenly.  
  
Tabby looked away from the TV. "Nothing."  
  
"Okay," he said passively. "Don't bother... Hey, why didn't you jump in and save the fuzzball today?"  
  
She shrugged. "Maybe I think he deserved it."  
  
Pietro fell off his chair. When he'd recovered, he looked over the back. "YOU thought the FREAKSHOW deserved LANCE to pummel him? Whatthefuckareyouon and where can I get some?"  
  
"Oh, screw you, Pietro, I don't want him to be pummeled. It's just he's going all righteous on that chick- 'that's not why we have powers, Jess! You can't just play around, someone's gonna get hurt!'" She kicked her feet distractedly. "Besides, he used-" she trailed off softly.  
  
Pietro was by her side in a second and leaning in. "Hmmm?"  
  
"He used me as an example, okay! He said 'imagine if you did that to Tabby and me, we'd both be stuffed so bad that it'd be coming out our ears'! Why doesn't he want me!" She cried, jumping up. "I mean, I'm not ugly, right? I'm desirable! He definitely proves that every weekend- you see at the mall!"  
  
"I do NOT want to know!"  
  
"Exactly! So why the hell doesn't he want me!" Tabby was close to tears, and when Pietro noticed, he stepped back. This was not Tabby. She didn't cry, she didn't get upset. She REALLY didn't want a boyfriend. He really hoped Jess was playing with her head.  
  
"Uh... Tabby..."  
  
"Pietro!" She grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him close. "Am I sexy?"  
  
"Very!" He squeaked.  
  
"Would I make a good girlfriend?"  
  
"That's not the same question!"  
  
"It's not?"  
  
"No!"  
  
"Oh." She let him go and considered. "Then the only way I'll get a straight answer is from the source! Thanks, Pie." She stepped on his stomach and walked over him.  
  
"I hate females."  
  
##########------------#########  
  
Todd flipped into the lounge and onto a stunned Pietro. "Heya homie!"  
  
Pietro glared at him. "I am holding you personally responsible."  
  
"What for?"  
  
"All my problems. Get off me."  
  
Todd scratched his head as Pietro sped away, then jumped onto the ceiling when the phone rang beside him. Picking the receiver up with his tongue, he cradled it on his shoulder. "'Lo?"  
  
"Toa- Todd?" It was Kitty, she sounded upset.  
  
"Hey Kitty!" He hopped onto the couch. "How're you?"  
  
"Not so good. There's something I've got to tell you." She sighed. "Can you meet me before school tomorrow? At the park?"  
  
"Uhh... sure. What time?"  
  
"Seven? This might take a while."  
  
Todd winced, but agreed. It sounded really important.  
  
##########------------#########  
  
He appeared beside her and fell onto the couch. "Okay."  
  
Jess tried to ignore him. She was lying on her stomach, reading Macbeth. But when a guy who hasn't been talking to you for the last two days pops in and makes the first move, it's kinda hard. It's even harder when he's fuzzy, blue, all the weirdness that is Kurt and staring at you through glowing yellow eyes.  
  
So she settled for the appearance of ignoring him.  
  
"So I said a couple of stupid things." Continued Kurt, his tail flipping absently. "Probably a lot I didn't mean. I should have helped you. I didn't. Not really. I made things worse."  
  
She looked up at him from under her eyelashes. He couldn't really believe that.  
  
"But I told Kitty what you did, yesterday. She told Toad this morning."  
  
It took all her will power not to answer that statement with a question. She listened, instead.  
  
"That's why neither of them were at school today. Kitty's pretty cut up. I guess it made me think." He looked out the window sadly. "Did you ever... did you ever want something more than anything in the world? I mean, something that you thought could really happen, not like stop being a mutant, or whatever. Something you could change."  
  
She nodded. "I did. I changed it."  
  
"Why?"  
  
She sat up. "Because I could. And up until the last week, I thought it was a good thing. The right thing to do. Why wouldn't you change something that you wanted?"  
  
He shrugged. "Morals, I guess."  
  
"Stop guessing!" She laughed, albeit nervously. "Start doing. It's always worked for me."  
  
"To each his own, right?"  
  
"Sorta." She pulled her legs up against her chest. "So what did you want that you thought you could change?"  
  
He shook his head. "Thought you knew my emotions."  
  
"Oh... Kitty."  
  
He nodded. "Ja. Katzchen." He shrugged. "I um, I thought that if I hung around long enough, eventually she'd notice me. And she has. Just, not the way I'd like it."  
  
"You do kinda take some getting used to."  
  
"So she's used to me." He replied. "Now what? Now I'm her shoulder to cry on! I've always been her shoulder to cry on! I'm like those toys she sleeps with." He smiled mischievously. "Not that I'd mind sleeping with her..."  
  
Jess laughed. "So you still want her, huh?"  
  
"Nein. Not the way you intend. It's just not doing much for me, knowing she's been kissing a Toad and he never turned into a prince."  
  
"Those are frogs, honey."  
  
"Fluch."  
  
"You just here for a pick-me-up?"  
  
"Nah, Here to annoy you on a subject long dead."  
  
"I can't. I don't know how to fix them."  
  
"You have to. Jean's power can't get to it, the professor's out of town, thank Gott, but this can't keep going on! We had to tie Scott up to keep him from going to see Tarryn today! Last time we got them apart, their mouths were so bruised they couldn't speak!"  
  
"So that was them I was feeling at lunch time."  
  
"Huh?"  
  
"Uh... let's call it broom closet."  
  
Kurt covered his face. "Why can't you fix it? You said you could."  
  
"I lied. I thought I would be able to by now." She sighed. "I've tried really hard, but when I get to Kitty, I honestly have been trying the last two days. I don't like you mad at me. I've tried over and over. It won't work." She was trying to force the emotion out of her voice, but it kept pulling itself up.  
  
She didn't like admitting to a weakness. And this was definitely a weakness.  
  
Kurt's head dropped to his knees. "Verdamnt, fluch und verdamnt weider."  
  
"So... wanna wing it?"  
  
He looked up at her. "I could curse you if I'd paid attention to my friends when I was little."  
  
"Coulda, woulda shoulda, didn't. Suffer."  
  
He sat back, thinking hard, obviously. "What's so different about removing an emotion to adding one?"  
  
"Nothing. But these are artificial emotions. It's like..." She looked around and her eyes fell on plastic flowers. "It's like fake grass. You got real stuff, and then you've got fake stuff, and then there's the stuff in between that technically is Real, but it's already fully developed when you lay it down."  
  
Kurt just stared at her. "Oookaaaay."  
  
"Real emotion, like real grass, comes and goes with the weather. You gotta take care of it or it dies. Fake emotion can live forever, so long as you want to keep it. The in between stuff, however, stays forever, but it feels, looks and acts the same. And it's bloody hard to make go away."  
  
"Uh huh."  
  
He didn't get it. But she was slowly starting to. "The only way to get rid of it... is to pull it up by the roots, and plant something else."  
  
"You really compare emotion to grass? And people call me a nut case."  
  
"No!" She gasped. "Oh my God, I've got it. Ohoho! Oh, Kurt! I've got it!"  
  
"Got what? Are we still talking about grass?"  
  
"You have to pull it up by the root! Give the soil time, if you want the next thing to work well!"  
  
"Have we left emotion completely behind? I'm still on fake grass."  
  
"You're brilliant!" Jess cried to herself. "Brilliant!"  
  
"Um... frauline? Please explain."  
  
"If it was meant to be, Kurt, it was meant to be. You said that."  
  
"I did?"  
  
"I think. It might not have been you, but yeah. If it was meant to be, it'll happen again. IT needs time to heal before anything'll grow well."  
  
"Please backtrack."  
  
She stood up and paced, thinking. Kurt was still thinking on the grass/emotion equation. "Wait, wait, wait. Are you going to pull out their ability to love?"  
  
"Well, kinda."  
  
"But, that'll mean they can't love at all."  
  
"Not really."  
  
"So how is that a good thing?"  
  
"I'll put it back. Sorta. I'll copy someone else's." She said, haltingly. She looked at Kurt and grinned. "I'll copy you!"  
  
"You are not getting in here."  
  
"Oh, come on!!"  
  
"Nein!"  
  
She blinked. He'd just sounded like one of the German war generals in 'Hogan's heroes'. She burst out laughing.  
  
He rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I should have never come."  
  
"Kurt. You have to take me to Kitty."  
  
"Does she have to be-"  
  
"You're right. Take me to Duncan."  
  
Kurt sighed and held out his arm resignedly. "You asked for it."  
  
##########------------######### ##########------------######### ##########------------#########  
  
That she did and unfortunately, so did you. I'm thinking I might have to take a break, as suggested by Kiki, go on hiatus until I can write again. But it's so tempting! It's like an addiction. Sorry, but it is. When I start being creative, I'll do something really good, then I'll lose any chance of being good, then stop, then circle around again. =sigh= oh well.  
  
Review people! I'm feeling unloved! Nah, but seriously. May I suggest you read some of the stuff written by the people that review? I've found a lot of Kurt fics that didn't come up using the search thingy and they're hilarious. Check out their favourite fics, too, they are so cool.  
  
Anyway! Email me, review me, ignore me, all good! Bye! 


	9. What was I on and where can I get more?

It occurs to me (sorry, English Lit. last) that I have not done a disclaimer as of yet. And as we all love them so very much, I must do one!  
  
DICLAIMER! (how bout that?) I do not own X-men Evolution, Kurt and all his friends/enemies/acquaintances/extra people you imagine in the background. I DO OWN a big stuffed dog called Kurdy (I got him for my birthday, and he is so gorgeous... sorry.) and I own Ventile, but I doubt he'll make an appearance this story, and unfortunately I must claim responsibility for Jess. The reason I am not thrilled on this is because she's the result of my creative brain and I don't understand WHAT my creative brain was thinking of with the grass-emotion equation. Ugh...  
  
I also came to the amazing realisation you people have no idea how Dyonne is, I've mentioned her a few times, and I daresay I'll do it again. Dyonne is an annoying twit that unfortunately likes my writing and manages to get into my files. Hence, I let her proof read, so she won't get into stuff I don't want. Unfortunately, she ADDS stuff, sometimes. She put a story up in my name once. I didn't find out til me reviewed it (thankyou sosososo much) and I will probably kill her for it. So, if I do talk about her, that's who she is and you know to want to shoot her. By the bye, she ain't reading this one!  
  
Continuing on...  
  
##########--------------###########  
  
Kurt was still trying to work out what the hell she was on about. When she asked to be taken to Kitty, all that snapped into his mind was 'if you don't know what she's on about, but you know it's dangerous, you don't want her doing it to someone important.'. So he refused.  
  
When she'd suggested Duncan, however...  
  
Inside he smiled evilly. Duncan was a jerk, he was screwed up anyway, with the whole Scott thing, he used to try to punch Kurt around (he could never hit him), come on, he deserved it, Kurt!  
  
But the other half of him, the 'decent' side, shot back several replies that didn't make nearly as much sense and were barely worth noting, let alone reasonable enough to be an argument.  
  
So he held out his arm for her to take, and with the other, turned on his holowatch. Hey, she'd get her come-uppance anyway, right? He wouldn't take any of the brunt, let her be sick.  
  
Jess, mistaking the evil feelings he was projecting to be towards Duncan, grabbed hold of his arm and grinned. "You'll thank me later. Oh, wait, first we need someone to copy their feelings. Since you are a wimp!" She hissed, slapping his arm lightly.  
  
He shrugged. "No, I just know better."  
  
She frowned at him. "Fine." Jess let go of his arm and he crouched sown on the couch. She started pacing in front of him, mumbling. "Fine. Uh, can't use any of the current people, so we could use Jean, but no, then Kitty's never make up her mind between you and Lance. How about... Tarryn? No, talk about the obsessive. Evan?"  
  
"He HAS no romantic side."  
  
"Right." She sighed in frustration and looked around the room. "Pietro?"  
  
He looked at her. "You've got to be kidding."  
  
"What's wrong with that idea, freak?" asked Pietro, shoving him from behind. "What's the idea, by the way?"  
  
Kurt rubbed his head where he'd hit the coffee table. "Where did you come from?"  
  
"The boarding house. What'd you want, Jess? I gotta date." Pietro smoothed back his hair, then looked at her sharply. "Unless of course, you can gimme something better."  
  
"Of course I can." Replied Jess. She glared at Kurt to keep him quiet. "That was what we were talking about. See, I need a little help in the next phase of our game."  
  
"Ooh!" He threw himself over the back of the couch and looked up excitedly. "The Kitty thing? Sweet! C'mon! Tell me, let's go!"  
  
Kurt grinned at her, then turned to Pietro, furious. "Oh, but it's terrible, Pietro! You really wouldn't want to be a part of this. Please, Jess, you can't do this!"  
  
"What's't?" Pietro was practically begging. "What's't? C'mon! Tell'm!"  
  
"Of course, if you do do this," Kurt said, completely serious. "You'll have to take more than one. I mean, the one you're planning at the moment won't be so good on its own."  
  
Jess stared at him, then frowned. "You're right..."  
  
Kurt considered the grass story again and it slowly made sense. She was going to completely take out any attraction the victim felt, destroy it utterly, and return the pieces along with everything else. Actually, this wasn't even a reasonable idea. Last time he'd seen someone try to do anything this stupid and dangerous, he himself had tried to beat up his own father.  
  
He shuddered. That had not been a good day.  
  
Jess raised an eyebrow at him, but just continued evading Pietro's questions while she thought. "What about... Lance?"  
  
"Not him too." Groaned Kurt, looking around.  
  
"No, I mean, why don't we get the entire Brotherhood in on this? All up they should make a semi-normal thing?"  
  
"Say what? What're you talking about? Hey, what're you doing to the Brotherhood? Can I get in on it? Je-ess!" Pietro tugged her arm. "Te-ell me- ee!"  
  
Kurt winced. "Telling him would be easier than listening to that."  
  
"Nah." She said. "You know, we should just leave them."  
  
"Nuh uh. Not happening. Why don't you just copy their emotion patterns or whatever it is you do, take it out and put it back in?"  
  
"What's he talking about?"  
  
Jess told Pietro her fake grass theory to shut him up. "Le duh, blue boy! Because then I'll copy the attraction too!"  
  
"Can't you recognise what you did?" asked Kurt, exasperated.  
  
"Yeah, that worked so well the last time!" she snapped. "I learnt that from you!"  
  
"We've had this argument!" he shouted.  
  
She fell silent and Pietro sat forward. "You know... I read in that book for English that when true love is put to the test, it always wins. You know? Truth triumphs and all that crap?"  
  
Both Kurt and Jess stared at him. "Huh?"  
  
He shifted in his seat. "In the book, some guy got his brain screwed with, and he couldn't remember anything, and thought he was one of the bad guys. But when his friends kidnap him and he has to spend a few days with them, he remembers who he is and the brainwashing goes away. He's not completely the same, he still gets a little evil at times, but in general he's the same." He stood up. "So, y'know, maybe you should sit miss preppy perfect down with Scotty boy, then Duncan down with half the senior population and a mirror, and then Kitty with Lance."  
  
Kurt blinked. Pietro actually had something resembling a reasonable idea.  
  
"Nah." Said Jess. "Pietro, could you do me a favour? I need to go see Duncan, can you take me?" She jangled the keys in front of him. "I'll let you drive as fast as you want."  
  
Pietro grinned. "I'm faster, but no one can see me then!" He snapped up the keys. "Buh-bye, blue boy!"  
  
He sped out of the room, Jess followed. Kurt looked around. "Huh." He said. Then he thought about what Pietro had suggested. It hadn't been half a bad idea. He sighed. Jean and Scott were the easiest and most likely.  
  
BAMF  
  
##########--------------###########  
  
Scott stared at him. "You want me to what?"  
  
Kurt shrugged. "Just hang out in here for a while."  
  
"It's Jean's room."  
  
"Ja, so?"  
  
"Jean will freak."  
  
"Damn right she will." Said Jean, marching up. "Why the hell are you standing outside my room? What did you do to it?"  
  
Kurt turned innocently to Jean and they looked at each other silently for several minutes. Scott patiently waited for the psychic conversation to end and scratched his head.  
  
Jean sighed. "Okay. Scott, come on."  
  
She took hold of his wrist and dragged him into the room. "If this doesn't work, Kurt, you owe me."  
  
"Jawohl, frauline!" grinned Kurt.  
  
He whipped around a corner and teleported to his room, then sank to his knees. {Please, God, you have to help me fix this. Please, please. Let it work!}  
  
##########--------------###########  
  
Scott sat impatiently on the dresser. "What is this about, Jean?"  
  
She shook her head. "Can't tell you."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Kurt asked."  
  
Scott laughed. "We all know that when Kurt asks you not to say something, it's probably a good idea to tell someone. So tell me. What is it that you aren't allowed to tell me?"  
  
"Actually," said Jean. "This time I agree with him. It's got very little to do with Kurt. If you can't know, then you can't know."  
  
Scott found himself smiling, then shook his head. Weird feeling. "Ssssooooo... how long are we in for?"  
  
"Dunno. Long time, I guess."  
  
"Okay. So what do you want to talk about?"  
  
Jean shrugged. "How are things with uh... you and Tarryn?"  
  
Scott frowned, then grinned. And kept grinning. "Great. She's everything I ever could have wished for. I don't understand why I didn't see it before."  
  
"Maybe you thought you had something better."  
  
He looked at her silently. "I might have thought so. But I didn't."  
  
Jean lowered her eyes. "Maybe you did." She looked out from under her eyelashes. "Maybe it just didn't know that yet."  
  
They both licked their lips and looked away.  
  
##########--------------###########  
  
An hour later, Scott and Jean had settled into an odd game of truth or dare, something only Rogue, Kitty and Evan did when they were WELL beyond bored. Not even Kurt would attempt this game unless he was getting sugar out of it.  
  
"Truth."  
  
"What you were thinking the first time you laid eyes on me."  
  
"Eeew! I have to live with a boy!"  
  
Scott burst out laughing. "Thanks, so much."  
  
"No, but seriously, the first time? I was thirteen, I have to admit, it wasn't anything quite that mature. More like 'ooh, boy!'"  
  
He laughed again. "I think I thought more along the lines of the first one."  
  
She giggled. "Truth or dare?"  
  
"Truth."  
  
"Wimp." She sat back in consideration, then looked up at him, lying on his stomach across the bed. She was sitting on the desk, hands clasped at the knees. "What were you thinking the first time you laid eyes on Tarryn."  
  
"Tarryn? Well, that's easy- I thought-" He stopped. "Actually, I wasn't really thinking much. Hmm... I think, it was... sexy body in bikini!"  
  
Jean looked at her sandals. "Oh?"  
  
He blushed. "I wasn't thinking about her at the time."  
  
Her head jerked up. "What?"  
  
"Do you remember? You had gone to the beach, it was the week Kurt came to the mansion, we were both kinda avoiding home. You'd gone out with friends, and I'd agreed to pick you up."  
  
She nodded slowly.  
  
"Tarryn and Melanie? Came running up the path and saw me. You were walking behind, wearing the first bikini you'd ever actually bought, remember?"  
  
She grinned. "Yeah, you picked it out."  
  
"I didn't think you'd wear it. Anyway, I saw you, then looked at Tarryn, because she and your other friend were introducing themselves. All I could think about..."  
  
She blushed, but couldn't hide the tiny smile that crept onto her face.  
  
"Truth or dare, Jean."  
  
"Dare."  
  
"Come sit over here." He patted the bed beside him. "Truth."  
  
"What do you think about us these days?"  
  
"The last few days... I haven't. I've been thinking about her." He shrugged and raised his head to watch her sit beside him. "But right now, I'm not."  
  
"Truth."  
  
"What do you think about us these days?"  
  
"I'm just hoping things'll go back to how they were."  
  
He raised an eyebrow. "Arguing?"  
  
She shook her head. "Talking."  
  
"Me too." He tapped the bed softly. "It's gone."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Tarryn... it's... gone..."  
  
"What's gone?"  
  
He slowly rose to his knees and looked at her. "Jean, I-"  
  
She smiled softly. "I think you should go."  
  
He nodded. "Me too." Suddenly he smiled. "I think I should go too."  
  
Jean closed her eyes as he ran out of the room. '_Kurt, have I ever told you I love you?_'  
  
The blanch even reached his mind. '_Please tell me you're being strictly brother/sister at the most._'  
  
She laughed. '_Defintely._'  
  
'_It worked?_'  
  
'_It worked._'  
  
"WAH-HOO!!"  
  
Jean laughed, listening to Kurt jump from the walls downstairs.  
  
"It worked." She assured herself, then stood and started toward him.  
  
##########--------------########### ##########--------------########### ##########--------------###########  
  
I've got the need! So if I post another chapter right after this one, It ain't my fault! Actually, this is dedicated to me the reviewer! Hee hee! You're soooo right, mein freunde, this has nothing to do with me (LeDiz)... I have no consideration for your state of mind.  
  
Hee hee!  
  
Anyway, see you next time! 


	10. I think she's gone into shock

I told you I felt the need...  
  
Mmm... Coke-a-cola... goooood...  
  
What was I doing? Ah yes.  
  
######------#####  
  
"Stopstopstopstopstop!" Jess threw her arms up. "STO- ARGHHHHHH!!!!!!"  
  
Pietro slammed on the breaks, sending the car spinning around. He grinned at her terrified scream and waited patiently when the car finally rested back on all four wheels, facing the wrong way outside the football field.  
  
Several minutes later, when Pietro had returned with a can of coke (couldn't resist), Jess lowered her hands and blinked, shaking hard. A few minutes later she turned and looked at him, still shaking.  
  
"WHAT THE HELL WERE YOU-"  
  
Pietro waited for the onslaught to end. At the two-minute mark, while she was trying to find a breath, Pietro pointed.  
  
"hey, look, Duncan!"  
  
Jess turned. "Really?"  
  
"Yeah, see? Oh, check it out, Lance!" Pietro blurred to his team leader. "Heya buddy, come over here."  
  
"Wha-at? Uh, Toad and I were just going-"  
  
"Is Freddy here too?" interrupted Pietro.  
  
"Uh, yeah, we-"  
  
"Where?"  
  
He frowned. "Pietro, shuddup. What are you doing here?"  
  
"Just a little fun with Jess the amazing empath! See Summers the immovable fall for the incredibly annoying chick, see Matthews the jock fall for the immovable! But we need you!"  
  
Lance cocked his head as Toad and Freddy ambled up slowly. "What d'you mean?"  
  
Pietro grinned. "Uh uh uh, Alvers, that would be telling."  
  
Jess finally ran up, moved to clutch at Pietro, then changed her mind and grabbed Lance, trying to keep herself up. "Sa-ave me! He should never, ever, ever, EVER drive!"  
  
"You let him drive?"  
  
She collapsed on the ground, still tugging on Lance's vest. She closed her eyes and groped in their minds, still talking. "I can't drive yet, he can, and I needed to find Duncan. Oh my god, Lance, it was horrible!"  
  
She was going through them all at the same time, so the affection-drive (she had recently named everything after her computer, it was getting ridiculous) was already confusing. However, it seemed semi-reasonable to her.  
  
More reasonable than Duncan's anyway, She was doing him so many favours today...  
  
When it was finally finished, she considered her copied emotion silently.  
  
"Dude, I think she's gone into shock." Whispered Lance, staring at her.  
  
"Uh, aren't you meant to do CPR or something when they're in shock?" asked Freddy.  
  
"She's breathing, you idiot." Snapped Todd. He was obviously still hung up on Kitty.  
  
"I don't think she's in shock, just thinking. Y'know what she's like when she's thinking." Said Pietro.  
  
Jess stood up determinedly. "Right. Okay."  
  
She smiled and nodded to the four boys, who glanced at each other, and marched onto the field.  
  
######------#####  
  
Duncan waved and walked off the field. He just needed a drink.  
  
He found himself face to face with Jessica Simmins, that weird chick who kept trying to play matchmaker with those freshman girls. Ugh. How could someone as hot as that be so into freshmen?  
  
Not that he'd noticed, or anything.  
  
Oh man, imagine how Scott would react if he knew Duncan had just called a girl hot?  
  
Shit. She was holding him by the shoulders. "Hold still a second."  
  
There was that weird, not-quite-there feeling again.  
  
"Jesus, man, do you think about anything other than Scott these days? For the love of Mike..." She had her eyes closed and was muttering non-stop. "Oh, that's just disgusting. Okay... one, two, three, rip! Thankyou very much! Okay... one, two, three, in you go!" She opened her eyes and grinned at him. "Well?"  
  
He stared at her for a second, then remembered what he'd been doing the last few days. He swore. "I gotta shower."  
  
He left behind an incredibly smug-looking girl.  
  
######------#####  
  
Kurt was absently flipping a coin, a new habit he'd found mildly entertaining. He thought it was funny that he was better at it with three thick fingers than Evan with five thin and agile fingers. Besides, he knew just when to catch it to get tails.  
  
He'd never lose a gamble again!  
  
He looked up, Kitty was leaning on the doorframe, watching him.  
  
"Oh, um, like, sorry, I just kinda spaced out." She blushed.  
  
He grinned. "Nah, it's okay. Just practicing. What's up?"  
  
Kitty sighed. "It's nothing."  
  
She turned around the corner, heading towards the front door. Kurt frowned and stood up. He needed to do something about this.  
  
######------#####  
  
Todd and Lance were in the park still, watching the footballers hit each other.  
  
They couldn't really understand the fascination with touching another guy's butt and calling it cool.  
  
Lance looked around, starting to get bored. He saw Kitty walking toward the school. Studying was one thing, but this was ridiculous!  
  
"hey, Toad, check it."  
  
Todd glanced up. "Kitty."  
  
"Yeah."  
  
"She doesn't look so good."  
  
"Maybe you should talk to her."  
  
"No way, you do it."  
  
They fell silent. Slowly, Todd stood up. "I... I'm hungry. I'll see you tonight, yo?"  
  
"Yeah, I've gotta go too. Better actually at least start that stupid assignment."  
  
"Yeah, guess so."  
  
"See ya."  
  
"Mmm."  
  
######------#####  
  
Kitty looked up. "Oh, hey."  
  
"Hi."  
  
He looked different. Everything was weird about him. He was standing just outside her circle of light, leaning on a tree. His voice, the way he stood, it was wrong, but she could understand why.  
  
He cleared his throat. "You alright?"  
  
"Not really, but you know about that." She tried to smile, but it came out as a grimace.  
  
"Actually, not really." He shifted to his other leg. "Wanna tell me?"  
  
She sighed. "I thought I had all this figured out. I thought if I ignored the feeling, if I concentrated on the fact it wasn't real... I thought I'd stop... stop caring about it." She looked away. "But, but it hasn't. And I don't know how to get rid of it."  
  
"I figured that."  
  
"I bet you think this is some huge joke."  
  
"No. Did I ever say it was a joke?"  
  
"The way you acted, I thought you liked what was happening."  
  
"Not since I figured stuff out for myself. That was a while ago now."  
  
She smiled slightly. "So you're on my side?"  
  
"I'm always on your side, Kitty."  
  
"I know. I gotta admit, there were a lot of times I didn't think you cared in the slightest-"  
  
"No, oh no, I might not show it, but I do have a few feelings in here, y'know." He grinned and she laughed slightly. "Sometimes we all have to lie to get along, right?"  
  
"Yeah. I just never thought about it really. I never think about you having more feelings than the ones that you show everyday..."  
  
"Jerkiness?"  
  
She laughed, louder now. "Yeah, I guess. You are such a jerk to me, sometimes."  
  
"I make up for it though."  
  
"Not enough."  
  
He smiled as he sat down next to her. "Wouldn't want you figuring me out."  
  
"You don't want anyone figuring you out." She replied, poking him.  
  
He narrowed his eyes and poked her back. "And you can talk?"  
  
"Not really." She stood up and turned to face him, walking backwards. "I just don't want you to figure me out."  
  
"What's that supposed to mean?"  
  
Suddenly she ran at him and wrapped her arms around his neck. She kissed his cheek roughly and jumped back to her feet. "Thanks for the talk. I knew I could count on you."  
  
He stared after her, touching his cheek. "Hey, anytime." He closed his eyes, a small smile playing on his lips. "I'm always here. Anytime..."  
  
######------#####  
  
Things were back to normal pretty quick, considering, thought Kurt, sitting in the back row of a bad movie with Tabitha. She was leaning on his arm, actually watching the movie. Surprisingly enough, this happened a lot. They would act like they weren't going to be paying attention to the movie, then end up just sitting, enjoying each other's company. He absently felt his tail wrap around her waist and she kissed his chin before looking back at the screen.  
  
He smiled. He'd never imagined anything could feel like this. It wasn't... it wasn't what a relationship should be. But it was the best thing he'd ever felt. Sometimes, he thought, he was luckier than even Lance and Kitty. At least he knew where he stood in the world when he was with his girlfriend.  
  
Macbeth had been canceled. Shortly after Jess had gotten irritated with the script and the cast and everything else. No mutant in the drama club had talked to her for a week.  
  
Jean and Scott were happily arguing again. Little smiles over the dinner table had been noticed, but everything was reasonable. Nothing out of the (for the X-men) ordinary. Kitty had asked Lance out again and they were once again madly in love, for the next two weeks.  
  
He rolled his eyes. Kitty would never see anything other than what she always had. But at times like these... he looked down at Tabitha. He didn't really mind. Let Kitty try to be normal. She'd realise normal was what you made it one day.  
  
Duncan had not been seen the week after he 'recovered', but when he did return, he was hot after Jean all over again.  
  
He noticed something and smiled. He elbowed Tabitha and pointed. Bobby and Amara were trying to sneak into the theatre down the front. They hadn't even chosen a good movie.  
  
Tabitha winked at Kurt and made a little energy bomb, holding it out to him. He took it and teleported behind the two would-be rogues. He slipped the bomb in the belt of Bobby's pants and disappeared. There were so few people and it was so dark that no one would notice.  
  
A small bang towards the front, followed by a yelp, then a burst of laughter from the very back, disturbed the movie's worst scene.  
  
Tabitha pulled Kurt from the cinema, laughing, and he let himself be pulled into a series of prank-runs.  
  
They screwed up one of Pietro's dates, ruined Kitty's latest attempts to get Lance to buy her something and blew a sundae up in Duncan's face.  
  
It was a very good weekend.  
  
######------##### ######------#####  
  
Just a nice little ending. I'll let you figure out who Kitty's therapist was, and I'm not sure this is going to keep going. I'm starting something else, don't worry 'me'. Just, I need to think about what it is, first... But this MAY keep going. Not the mid-summer story, but something to continue this.  
  
Hope you liked this one. I liked some of it, myself, but not all. Oh well, since when do I ever like it? Ooh, Coke... bye guys! 


End file.
